Posted on 05/16/2012 8:18:21 AM PDT by erod
Hi FReepers, The company I'm working for is attending a trade show early next month. I'm looking for something to do in the Seattle area that can accommodate 30 people, and I need something that's close to the Bell Harbor Int'l Conference Center preferably walking distance.
I need something Seattle-ish, I'm looking but I can't seem to find anything. Help is very appreciated, thanks!
Everyone seems to like Pike Place Market. A trip on most any ferry is great, better than great if the weather is good. The “under ground tour” is pretty interesting.
My pleasure
Y’all get your butts on a some boats and take in some whale watching. Also there’s the underground tour deal for the risk adverse. Just walking around dtown Seattle is great fun, and don’t miss the Pike Place fish mkt, just beware the flying fish, tho. Oh, look into the Seattle emp museum for some culture. Always BOLO or The Heart sisters in the Emerald City. This gorgeous jewel and its freaky human life forms usually make visiting Seattle an unforgettable experience. But, I caution: don’t forget your camera and your AMEX card.
The gardens and boat traffic at Ballard locks.
Especially Dungenous Crab, fresh near wharf.
Here’s the ticket: dress 2/3 of your group in funny animal costumes and give them signs saying things like “Peace Now!” or “Save the Ferrets!” or “Burn the old world to revealthe new!” and march through Pioneer Square. Dress the other third in black and have them smash the local Starbucks and Nike store windows and then split leaving the people in funny animal costumes to take the brunt of the police response. Hilarious! Totally ‘Seattle’.
Go to the Experience Music Project museum. I could have spent hours there.
If you time it right... the Mariners game. Walk along the waterfront. Take a ferry boat ride. Pike Place Market, where they throw the fish. Take the water taxi to Alki beach and enjoy the views (best view of downtown). You can catch a whale watching trip on the waterfront. The Ballard Locks. Eat at; Salty’s on Alki, Ivar’s on the waterfront, Anthony’s Homeport, any of the other seafood restaurants. Or dine on top of the Spaceneedle.
Mail me separately and I can give you some other ideas.
Thanks so much for your help I’m sifting through these comments now, I just got back from the printers with our booth design for the conference. ;)
LOL, the problem with that is that we all have jobs and shower regularly, so maybe joining them isn't a good idea.
Rock n Roll Museum sounds awesome, thanks Frog Mom!
I'm not sure but here's the address
2203 Alaskan Way Seattle, WA 98121
I lived there for 45 years and visited downtown a lot by car and bicycle (just moved to KY last August). This must be a new name for an old venue. Cross streets would help. Also, what is it you would like to do?
We're a bunch of geeks, I'm in my twenties, I actually won't be there but my boss and clients will, they want to do something that is Seattle-ish and touristy, while entertaining their clients in the tech industry.
Thanks for your help.
THAT sounds Seattle-ish, but I live in Chicago so I really shouldn't talk.
Very awesome and helpful post thanks!
OK, that is fairly close to the old spaghetti factory. I’ve only eaten there once. Its main draw is that it is cheap, but it is a pretty old Seattle “mainstay”.
Needless to say there is also the Pike Place market and the waterfront, but that is a bit of a walk. From there, pretty much everything is a bit of a walk.
Seattle Center is fun this time of year.
Oh, and the Pike Place Brewery is an excellent restaurant-brewery in the market. They have a great sampler beer plank. I get it every time I go there.
And westlake mall and park is where you see a lot of the protesters getting arrested. There is usually a “come to Jesus” or “save the unborn gay feminists” rally going on there. it can be entertaining.
Technically, all that stuff is within walking distance for me, but YMMV. As Steven Wright says, “everywhere is walking distance if you have the time.”
And most of the stuff I mentioned is in the Pike and pine area between Alaska Way and 6th avenue, except for the Spaghetti factory, which is at the end of Alaskan way in the opposite direction, and then northeast about a block. It’s a big brick building, very easy to see.
Oh, I almost forgot. My very favorite attraction: Go to Ivars fish bar just north of the ferry terminal and get a few “murphy’s” (orders of fries) and go to the left of the fish bar and down the pier 50 feet or so. Feed the seagulls. It’s a hoot. They’ll take the fries right out of your mouth or hand. Once they know you’re feeding them, about 10-30 of them will circle in a 50 yard loop between you and the tug boat there and swoop in to catch the fries. I like to throw them way up to make the birds do tricks. Sometimes several of them will go for the same fry, colliding spectacularly. I’ve been beaten by their wings, had them push off my arm with their feet, you name it.
Wash your hands afterward... :-)
Feel free to Freepmail for anything else.
I used to ride my bike by the beginning of the Seattle Underground tour from time to time and would say something like “Rats are thick today. Be safe down there.”
I’m sure the tour guides got tired of it. ;-)
—Look for a way to get out as quickly as possible......—
45 years there. Moved to a farm in KY last year. You are correct. ;-)
Still, it has it’s charms as long as you wear protection.
I live in Everett, north of Seattle.
If walking distance is the key, everything is uphill from where the Bell Harbor conference center is that relates to Seattle Center, the Needle, the Duck tour, etc.
If you go North from Bell Harbor, you’ll find the Edgewater Bar and Restaurant. It’s excellent, and its the place where Led Zeppelin had their infamous ‘Red Snapper’ incident. The food is great, the views are better, and for 30 people, it’s perfect in that its less than a five minute walk.
Go South on Alaskan Way, and indeed, there’s the Seattle Aquarium, and it is one of the best in the nation. Keep going South and find the Old Curiosity Shop, which has some really fine oddities inside - stuff you can buy you won’t find anywhere else. Definitely worth a look.
Ivars is always good, but there’s also Steamers which is just as good, and you can get real scooped ice cream cones.
If you come ALL THE WAY SOUTH on Alaskan Way, to Royal Brougham Way, you are at Safeco Field, and the Mariners are playing. Soccer is in season too, and our fans are ridiculous but well-mannered and entertaining. MLB in someone else’s city is always a nice time for 30 people, in that you have the food, the baseball culture, and you can whack a ballpark off your list of the nation’s ballparks you want to see.
If budget is key, the Old Spaghetti Factory has excellent food for very cheap, and a full service bar. You can get positively plastered there for a smaller price.
Further North of the the Spaghetti Factory is the Sen. Murray Memorial Boondongle we call the ‘Sculpture Garden’. Buddy, its worth a look to see how much cash was spent, the types of things we are calling art, and the sheer overengineering that went into it. It will take your breath away in that it is such a waste of taxpayer dollars.
But, and my friend you don’t want to miss this, there is a fountain right across the tracks to the West of the Old Spaghetti Factory. There is a statue of a naked boy facing a naked man and they are in the act of approaching as to embrace. I have unofficially dubbed it the ‘Man-Boy Love Shrine’ after watching the look on the faces of tourists that gaze upon it and literally gasp.
Nothing is more in your face NAMBLA than this statue. The fountain obscures one body, then it obscures the other body in turn, and then the fountain turns off to expose both approaching to embrace each other, and they are both very naked. Not a stitch.
As you go South from Bell Harbor, you approach the Ferry Termainal, but before you get to the Terminal, look to your left and there are antique shops, some restaurants, and then you get to Yesler St. If you go left onto Yesler, you’ll find some nice little restuarants, quaint bars, and Magic Mouse Toys on First Ave. Go right onto First Ave, and you’ll be in Pioneer Square, a half-dozen bars, shops, etc. There’s a good Cajun place - the New Orleans, that is VERY cheap, has outstanding food, and great, low key southern, creole, and folk music. Very good place, and impossible to be disappointed. Picking that place enhanced my career once.
Keep going South on First and just North, I mean just North, of Century link field’s North Parking lot is F.X. McCrory’s and the largest selection of whiskey on the planet, as well as excellent chops and seafood. The seafood is taken from a live tank and prepared. Spendy, but the bar and the bar food is the highest quality in the city.
All of this is what is walkably accessible from Alaskan Way without having to climb hills.
Thanks great recommendations!
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